A full field awaits Tarnawa

The $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 6 at Del Mar may have a maximum field for the first time since 1999.

The Breeders’ Cup announced 22 pre-entries on Wednesday, twice as many as in 2020, a group led by Tarnawa, who won the BC Turf at Keeneland last year.

The BC Turf, run at 1 1/2 miles, will be limited to 14 starters. The race has not drawn that many runners since 1999 at Gulfstream Park. In the last five years, the BC Turf has had fields ranging from 10 last year to 13 in 2017 at Del Mar and 2018 at Churchill Downs.

Tarnawa, a 5-year-old mare owned by The Aga Khan and trained in Ireland by Dermot Weld, is one of 11 foreign-based runners among the pre-entries.

Two foreign pre-entrants have had successful ventures to North America of late. On Sept. 18, Walton Street won the Grade 1 Canadian International at Woodbine and Yibir won the Jockey Club Derby at Belmont Park. Both are trained by Charlie Appleby for Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing.

Yibir is one of five pre-entered runners who earned automatic berths by winning major stakes in the United States and Europe. The owners of Love (winner of the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in June), Astronaut (Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap in August), Gufo (Grade 1 Sword Dancer Stakes at Saratoga in August), and Imperador (Calumet Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs in September) were not required to fork over a $50,000 pre-entry fee by Monday’s deadline. Owners must pay another $50,000 to start.

Tarnawa, second in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris on Oct. 3, will attempt to become the first repeat winner since Conduit in 2008-09.

Love is trained by Aidan O’Brien, the Irish trainer who has won the race a record six times, but not since 2016. This year, O’Brien pre-entered five horses, but Bolshoi Ballet, Broome, Japan, and Mogul were not initially selected by a panel of racing officials to be part of the 14-horse field.

Japan is first on the list of also-eligible runners and would gain a position if one of the first 14 are withdrawn from consideration. Japan, a 5-yearold horse who was a two-time Group 1 winner in England and France in 2019, may gain a berth if the 5-year-old Japanese mare Loves Only You starts in the BC Filly and Mare Turf, which has been listed as her first preferred race.

Tribhuvan, winner of the

Grade 1 United Nations Stakes at Monmouth Park in July, is second on the list of also-eligible runners. Trained by Chad Brown, Tribhuvan was fifth in the Sword Dancer in his only subsequent start.

Brown won the 2019 BC Turf with Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar, who edged United by a head. Aside from Tribhuvan, Brown pre-entered Domestic Spending, a two-time Grade 1 winner this year, and Rockemperor, the attractive winner of the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on Oct. 9 at Belmont Park.

United, winner of the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship on Oct. 2 at Santa Anita, is one of four California-based pre-entrants along with Acclimate, Astronaut, and Friar’s Road. It is unlikely Friar’s Road will gain a berth. He was ranked eighth, or last, on the list of also-eligible runners.